This invention deals with side shields for eyeglasses.
Side shields may be mounted to the temples of safety eyeglass frames to help shield the wearer from dangerous materials that could enter the eye in a particular work environment. In fact, employers often provide employees working in such environments with their own personal prescription eye glasses having side shields at no cost in order to safeguard their workers"" health and productivity. Unfortunately, many workers are tempted to remove the side shields when not in the workplace in order to make their eyeglasses appear more stylish or appealing. This leads to the loss of the side shields provided and often leads to the worker attempting jobs where safety requires the presence of such side shields without the shields being present.
In order to prevent the removal and loss of side shields, employers and manufacturing facilities have sought means for permanently affixing side shields to the temples of the eyeglasses provided to their employees. Mechanical locking means (such as rivets, screws and lock-nuts) as well as adhesives have been used for this purpose. Representative examples of prior art attempts to solve this problem using mechanical locking means may be seen in the following U.S. Patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,351 issued to Hirschman et al. in 1996 for a xe2x80x9cMethod and Kit for Attaching Side Shields to Eyeglass Temples.xe2x80x9d
U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,278 issued to Simmons, Sr. in 1998 for a xe2x80x9cEyeglass Shield for Removable Attachment to Eyeglass Lens Frames.xe2x80x9d
U.S. Pat. No. 5,798,815 issued to Hirschman et al. in 1998 for a xe2x80x9cMethod and Kit for Attaching Side Shields to Eyeglass Temples.xe2x80x9d
U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,196 issued to Saba et al. in 1999 for a xe2x80x9cRetainer for Eyeglass Frames having Sideshields.xe2x80x9d
Most of the foregoing patents deal with systems that require a specialized eye glass side shield for their use. Other systems, such as Saba, are intended for use with a common rear slide-on shield. Such shields are placed in position by sliding them into place (from the rear) onto and over the temple adjacent the lens frame. They can be removed by reversing this process and sliding them back from their position. Thus, some mechanism must be provided to block them from sliding back from the end of the temple adjacent the lens frame. For example, Saba provides a hook that fastens into a side hole or opening in the eyeglass shield. This hook is at one end of an arm with the other end attached to a clamp that can be tightened onto the temple behind the shield after the shield is in position. This combination allows the eyeglass shield to be locked into position so that it cannot slide off of the temple.
However, not all eyeglass temples are structured in a way that allows a side shield to slide onto the temple from the rear. Some brands, such as VECTORS(copyright), have expanded padding or inserts on or around the rear of the temple adjacent and forward of the temple""s ear hook. This added material generally covers both the inside and outside of the temple and thereby blocks side shield placement from the rear. Thus, side shield designs adapted for placement by sliding onto the temple from the rear cannot be used. There is, therefore, a need for eyeglass side shield systems that can be used with such glasses. There also remains a need for side shield systems that are durable, reliable and simple to actuate.
The instant invention involves an eyeglass side shield with a snap-in locking member. The eyeglass side shield is provided with retention ridges that form an open slot. This slot allows the shield to slide onto an eyeglass temple from the front rather than the rear. After placement in position, a snap-in locking member provides an obstruction that prevents the eyeglass shield from sliding forward past the hinge casing for the eyeglass temple. It also serves to further block movement of the eyeglass shield backward past the padding inserts for the temple""s ear hook. The design is durable, reliable and simple to put into place.